ATP Challenger Tour
Our doubles stars were in full strength in Europe with 7 of the players playing there. Best performance of the lot of course came from challenger champions Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni who won their 7th challenger title together and 2nd in 2023.
These are results of our players on challenger tour this week-
At Sanremo Challenger 125, Italy (Clay)
[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND) l. (3) Roman Jebavy (CZE)/ Adam Pavlasek (CZE), 36 36
At Lille Challenger 100, France (Hard)
[R1] Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND)/ Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) l. Luke Johnson (GBR)/ Sem Verbeek (NED), 36 16
[R1] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Igor Zelenay (CZE) d. (4) Andrew Harris (AUS)/ John-Patrick Smith (AUS), 63 36 [10-3]
[QF] Arjun Kadhe (IND)/ Igor Zelenay (CZE) l. Luke Johnson (GBR)/ Sem Verbeek (NED), 67(4) 46
At Girona Challenger 75, Spain (Clay)
[R1] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Zvonivir Babic (CRO)/ Piotr Matuszewski (POL), 63 64
[R1] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) d. (WC) Eduard Esteve Lobato (ESP)/ Alvaro Lopez San Martin (ESP), 76(4) 63
[QF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Orlando Luz (BRA)/ Marcelo Zormann (BRA), 46 76(5) [10-8]
[QF] (4) Purav Raja (IND)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. Laurent Lokoli (FRA)/ Fabian Marozsan (HUN) walkover
[SF] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. (4) Francisco Cabral (POR) / Joao Sousa (POR) 64 57 10-2
[F] (1) Yuki Bhambri (IND)/ Saketh Myneni (IND) d. Inigo Cervantes (ESP) / Oriol Roca Batalla (ESP) 64 64
ITF Tour
4 weeks of ITF circuit continued in India this week with a M25 in Mysuru. This time the field was somewhat weaker with last 2 weeks champion Evgeny Donskoy pulling out. 3 Indians Mukund, Digivijay Pratap Singh and Siddharth Rawat were seeds. Of these only Mukund took his appointed place in QF though with Rawat and Digvijay getting upset in earlier rounds. 19 year Karan Slingh had another decent week as he upset Siddharth Rawat and made it to back to back quarter finals. Third Indian to reach QF was SD Prajwal Dev.
SD Prajwal Dev upset Mukund in QF to become the only Indian to make it to SF like the earlier 2 weeks where too there was 1 Indian in SF.
In Wonens ITF W25 in Jakarta, Ankita Raina had a very good run to the final beating 2 very good Chinese players before losing to another Chinese in the final. Rutuja and Sahaja also played here but lost early.
These are their results this week-
[R1] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. Peangtarn Plipuech (THA,314) 60 62
[R1] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,385) d. Haruna Arakawa (JPN,435) 62 62
[R1] (Q) Sahaja Yamlapalli (IND,484) l. (Q) Hanyu Gao (CHN,915) 06 36
[R2] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. (WC) Fitriani Sabatini (INA,NR) 64 61
[R2] Rutuja Bhosale (IND,385) l. (Q) Zongyu Li (CHN,516) 16 46 67(5)
[QF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. Xinyu Gao (CHN,330) 36 63 75
[SF] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) d. (Q) Hanyu Gao (CHN,915), 76(3) 64
[F] (4) Ankita Raina (IND,226) l. Zhuoxuan Bai (CHN,301) 63 06 26
ITF Juniors
In India , 13 year old Vihaan Reddy won his 4th straight title winning ITF junior J30 title in Madurai. It has been in incredible run by Vihaan winning 4th straight week all against opponents who were 2-3 years older. He is the name to watch out for future.
In girls, 15 year old Qualifer Sree Syleswari Velmanikandan beat the 5th seed Harithasree, 4th seed Priyanka Rana (USA), 1st seed Asmi Adklar (who is also AITA #1 in u16), and then 3rd seed Amodini Naik to take the title. Only Asmi was able to take even a set off her. This is only her second ITF juniors and Sreesyleswari is 7-1 to start her career. She has only played one round at the Madurai J5 a year ago.
